


A Handful of Wind - Renewal Part Two

by juliesioux



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), olicity - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Deep love, F/M, Love, Olicity AU spec, Time Travel, True Love, olicity - Freeform, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-10-13 21:30:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20589410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliesioux/pseuds/juliesioux
Summary: I wasn't sure if this was going to happen but I needed to writer them home.But the journey is rocky and will challenge them both in different ways. The planet they are on is unforgiving and drives them to extremes while the effects of the journey to it are beginning to reveal themselves in unexpected ways.It will be sexy, funny, full of angst and love and most likely will not match the show at all. Which could be a good thing...





	1. When Winter Calls

**Chapter One**

**When Winter Calls**

_She thought she could see him_  
_falling through time and space_  
_leaving her alone again**.**_

The day began like any other. They got up, had breakfast and then headed outside for their daily hike. They had made a habit out of exploring the land around them and had discovered petroglyphs, old trails, and caves full of arrowheads and animal bones. The original inhabitants of the planet were long gone but their mark was left on the land. As they made their way out into the warm sun and cool breeze, they spotted dark clouds forming on the horizon, advancing steadily towards them. It was a gamble, but they decided to make it and continued on their hike.

It was exciting and somewhat terrifying to discover a new world, to stop and listen to the new Mother Tongue the planet was speaking. There were people, humans from other earths from what they could tell, living near them and somewhere on the continent there were cities, towns, larger urban centres. The version of the internet they had was good but everyday she was finding ways to improve it. Felicity needed it to be robust, powerful and secure so she could continue working on the project she had decided to undertake. Somehow, she was going to find a way to find their universe and home. She had done it once before and was certain she could do it again.

Until then, she had a life with Oliver that she treasured. Everyday was an adventure with him, whether it be in planning a new space to build or a new trail to conquer. They weren’t young anymore but that wasn’t slowing either of the down. In fact, she had never felt better. The Monitor had told them that time moved differently here, that as soon as their bodies adjusted to it, things may begin to subtly change.

Half way up to their favourite lookout, where they could watch the giant waves thrash the cliffs and rocky shore below, they stopped to cool off by a fast running, glacial cold stream. Oliver had stripped down and dove into the frigid current while she stayed on shore. The closest she would get to swimming in the stream was plunging her hands under the surface of the icy water and turning them over to examine the backs and then her palms.

It was her hands that were the first give away to the secret of how time moved on their new planet. They hadn’t aged in the last five years, if anything they were getting younger. She looked at her reflection in the rippling water and saw the smoothness of her skin where once there had been fine lines and the start of wrinkles. Her hair was more lustrous and the aches in her knees and back had started to ease.

Oliver was the same. His hair was grey in places but slowly changing back to its original dark blonde and his eyes were a brighter blue. One thing that their new home had not erased were his scars which made her secretly happy. They were as much a part of his physical identity as the colour of his eyes. They were his voice when silence wrapped itself around him. Reminders, talismans and warnings all displayed in mottled flesh. She loved reading the story of his life with her finger tips.

Felicity wondered if maybe they were actually getting younger, being allowed to reclaim the years lost to them after his foray into the multiverse. When she had asked, the women in the hamlet had answered around her questions about the seeming reappearance of youth and simply told her to enjoy it because things would only get better for the next decade. If they let the planet do its job, the surprises would continue to come.

The first five years had seemed to pass like they normally would on Earth, their Earth, but then there was the night of the most powerful electric storm she had ever seen and that was when everything had begun to change. The air around the cabin had crackled in spider web patterns, flashing in bright white and blue. They felt it on their skin, in their hair and in the air around them. The thunder was loud enough to rumble through the sound proofing in the cabin walls. Dishes in the cupboards had rattled together, sounding fearful as they chimed out in dulcet tones.

But the lightning, that had been powerful enough to short circuited every electronic in the house. They sought cover on the main floor instead of upstairs in their large bed under the windows for fear the storm would shatter all the glass. The backup generator had kicked in, keeping the invisible security system alive but they had turned off all the lights, not wanting to tempt fate. Somehow they managed to keep the fire going and tried to find sleep despite the violent throes of the storm all around them. They were mostly successful until the dreams began.

_And oh, what dreams they were, she thought, so painfully vivid and alive. I hope we never have to go through that again._

“Felicity?” Oliver’s voice boomed over the sound of the stream from somewhere behind her. He had exited the frigid waters downstream and circled back. It was as she looked for him that she noticed the water was now running higher, wilder, benefitting from the runoff from further up the mountain.  
“I’m here!” she called back, pulling her thoughts back to the present. The lingering wariness, that undefinable fear, of the power of their dreams in this place remained.

A minute later, Oliver slipped silently from between two enormous trees, wet but fully dressed after his impromptu swim, and joined her by the stream. He had intended to run up the mountain, along a trail they had been maintaining for the last couple of years, but the lure of the water had been too great. She barely enjoyed hiking the steep trail but loved watching him run it when the mood struck him. Watching him swim naked in nature was a welcomed change of pace.

“You’re all wet,” she smiled as he pulled her into a hug.  
“You love it,” he murmured as he kissed her.  
“Not as much as watching how you got wet,” she said softly and laughed as he blushed.  
“What were you looking at?” he asked.  
“My hands,” she said honestly, “They look...younger.”

He looked at her, furrowed his brow, and held her hands between them. Studying them, he looked at the palms and backs of them for a minute before kissing both in turn. She smiled at his earnestness, the great care he took in making her feel the weight of his lips on her delicate skin.

“They look perfect to me,” he said.  
“Flirt,” she smiled.

A peel of thunder rolled up the mountainside signalling that it was time to get back to their home before the storm came. This was the time of year that all the streams would run high and fast, the lakes would spill their banks and the waves in the ocean would thrash the coast, breaking chunks of it away. They had been warned that storm season in this part of the world was unpredictable at first, but once it started it was long, intense and violent.

“The storms here are insane,” she grumbled as they made their way carefully down the mountain path. “A little warning wouldn’t hurt.”

Oliver was further down the path by a few yards, but she saw his shoulders shake and heard his laugh. He half turned towards her and, in the delicate, forest filtered light, he looked exactly as he did on the night he left her with the Monitor. It took her breath away to see that younger version of him so suddenly appear.

“Should we soak in the tub upstairs or the hot tub?” he called back.  
“Upstairs,” she answered, “I don’t want to be outside if the lightning starts up.”  
“Ok, you get it ready and I’ll make us some coffee.”  
“It’s getting darker earlier,” she commented as they rounded an enormous tree. She looked up the trunk and was awed by the extraordinary size of it. It was wide enough to dwarf the cab of an eighteen wheeler on earth and so tall, the top of it was obscured by clouds. The cabin was still about two miles away and the light was slowly fading but she still wanted to stop and breathe in the clean air and enjoy the purity of the environment they now lived in.  
“We are apparently heading into true winter,” he said, waiting for her as she made her way over the tree’s large, exposed, entangled roots.  
“The solar panels are fully charged. Even if winter lasts a year, we will have enough stored energy for the next decade or so,” she said happily.  
“You are amazing,” he commented, both proud and awed.  
“I am, aren’t I?” she mused, giving him a playful nudge.

Oliver shook his head and purposefully used his long stride to get ahead of her on the path. She was laughing at him when thunder boomed overhead sending the birds high above them shrieking to lower elevations. Felicity could feel the vibration of the storm under her feet, when she placed her hand against the tree trunk next to her, the bark shook and trembled. Looking up, she couldn’t see the tops of the trees, not even a hint of vegetation. They rose higher than the clouds but helped the entire planet breathe.

Suddenly, Oliver’s hand grabbed her, startling her from her contemplative state. “Come on,” he said urgently, “We have to move. Fast.”  
“What’s happening, Oliver?” she asked, feeling the first tendrils of fear creeping deep up her spine.  
“I’ll tell you when we get the cabin. But right now,” he said quietly but with iron in his voice, “we have to move.”  
“Ok, let’s go,” she said without hesitation and quickly fell into step with him.

They moved quickly and quietly through the forest. When the trail grew slick and she slipped, Oliver had her jump on his back, piggyback style, and then he began to run. Whatever was happening above them had him worried, she could feel the pounding of his heart and the coiled tension in his body.

Clearing the forest, Oliver slowed to jog and was about to set her down when they heard a loud explosion. He froze and looked up. Whatever he saw caused his face to blanche and his eyes to widen in fear. Taking off like a literal rocket, he ran down the rocky path, heading for the shelter of the cliffs. Oliver continued running full tilt towards home but he kept as close to the cliff walls. She held on as tightly as she dared, not wanting to choke him but also not wanting to fall off his back.

“What is it, Oliver?” she asked quietly, her mouth next to his ear.  
“The trees,” he panted and fell silent to focus on the path ahead of them.

Then she heard it. A high whistling sound that grew louder and louder until it was so ear splittingly loud, that she felt battered by it. Oliver was shouting something at her but his voice couldn’t breakthrough the wall of noise that surrounded them both. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, trying to hide from what was about to rain down on them from above.

Oliver managed to reach the footpath that lead up to their cabin before the unmistakable sound of splintering wood reached them. He bounded up the path at double time, sprinting up the final few metres and into their home. Once inside, he hit the security button next to the door, triggering the weblike panels that covered the entire main house, the tiny house by the shore, the shed and carport. It was tensile, strong and adaptive to whatever it was they were trying to keep out.

She was trying to contextualize what they had been running from when the unmistakable sound of a large explosion on the other side of the cliffs reached their ears. Grabbing her hand, Oliver pulled her back into her office, which faced away from the ocean, and closed the door. It was only then that he took a deep breath and sat down, his legs seeming to give out from under him. Felicity watched him carefully and tenderly ran her hand over his head, massaging the back of his neck and waited.

With a grateful smile, he took her other hand and brought it to his lips to tenderly kiss the inside of her wrist. It was comforting, intimate and gentle. It helped ground him after their frantic flight from danger and helped her feel safe once again. This planet was revealing its hidden secrets, season by season, and the one they had just outrun was a dangerous one.

“Oliver, what actually just happened?” she asked softly.  
“Come and sit with me,” he replied just as the sound of something showering down on the roof began. It was denser than rain. She figured out what it was and felt a cold stab of fear in her gut.  
“Is it what I think it is?” she asked in concern as she sat down next to him on the couch she had him make for her. Another discovered talent in this faraway place.  
“The local historian told me a story when I first got here. That the winter storms could sometimes snap the tops of the trees off, but when they do...because they are so high up, by the time they reach the earth, they are like a missile,” he explained, “I needed to get us here before it landed. The splinters would have shredded us.”

They sat in silence, listening to the wood, large rocks, small bits of gravel from the shore and possibly sea water rain down on their home. She pushed herself closer to him just as he pushed himself closer to her. They were each trying to find solace and safety from the storm from each other. It made her think of all the storms, emotional and raw, that they had weathered back on earth, their earth. How often they had swum through the murky waters of their relationship always and only towards each other.

“I miss home,” she said mournfully, “I try not to, but I do.”  
“I do, too,” he whispered.  
“What are we going to do if we get snowed in?” she asked, changing the subject for both their sakes.  
“We’ll be fine,” he reassured her, “The hamlet is well prepared for emergencies like that.”  
“Drones?” she asked, half seriously.  
“Drones,” he confirmed with a gentle smile.

They sat in silence and listened to the last of the shattered tree top shower down on their home. She knew without having to ask that there wouldn’t be a mark anywhere, not a broken window or dent in the roof. The defense system that surrounded their property was technology she was still trying to figure out.

“Come on,” she said quietly, “Let’s go see what the planet has done before we get cleaned up.”  
“I’ll make the coffee, too,” he smiled.  
“You better,” she grumbled lightly, pulling him to his feet.

They ventured out into the main room and cautiously headed towards the enormous windows at the front of the cabin. What they saw was utter mayhem. Splinters as tall as their cabin were embedded in the ground, including the path that Oliver had sprinted up, an entire bough full of what looked to be razor sharp needles close to two feet long lay across the drive and chunks of wood laid piled high with dislodged rocks from somewhere beyond the cliffs.

“Oliver…,” she whispered in shock, trying to process the scene in front of her.  
“I know,” he said, his voice low. He reached out and took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. He did that to calm her but this time she was sure it was for him as well.  
“The clean up for this is going to take forever,” she sighed.  
“I think the storm that’s coming will help take care of some of it but at least I won’t have to cut down another tree to stock up on wood,” he said with a practiced shrug.  
“Those needles look scary sharp. Should we burn them?” she asked, stepping closer to him.  
“The men in the hamlet advise not to. Their resin splatters when heated and it is corrosive,” he looked at their driveway and then the path to the ocean, trying to assess the damage from a distance.  
“Do you want to start assessing any damage now?” she asked.  
“No, it is getting dark and I think that’s the storm is just getting started,” he replied, looking up to the sky just a peel of thunder roared over the water.

Instinctively, they both moved away from the window and closer to one another. There was a faint rippling over the glass as the security system was triggered into action again and even then, the panes of glass vibrated ever so slightly as the shockwaves from the thunder found their way onto land.

“Oliver, what have you been told about the storms here? We haven’t seen anything like this in the past five years,” she commented softly.  
“Once every ten or so years, they get big storms. Like the kind that wiped out Puerto Rico and New Orleans,” he explained quietly, “But we are protected from the winds up here, which is half the battle.”  
“And the other half?” she asked, turning to look at him.  
“Heat, supplies…boredom,” he said sheepishly.  
“Well, we have a lot of supplies, though we could stand to get a few more things. As for boredom, Oliver, we are never bored,” she smiled, though deep down she was worried. If the winter was going to be as long as she thought, they needed to be sure about a number of different things.

“I can see your mind is firing on all cylinders,” he grinned.  
“I am just thinking through a few things,” she admitted sheepishly.  
“Such as…?” he prompted.  
“Water. We need to be sure the pipes won’t freeze. And the chimney. We need to clean it,” she started, feeling panic building in her body.

Strong arms gently pulled her close and she rested her head on his chest, breathing deep the familiar, earthy scent of her husband. They held each other as the storm kicked into high gear. Felicity watched the subtle glimmer of the defense system as it strengthened on the forward facing windows and walls. She had tweaked it to provide more of a buffer for violent storms. She knew what living next to the ocean and the power of the winds that could be produced over it.

“Coffee?” she asked, listening to the thunder grow closer.  
“Bath?” he asked.  
“Yes,” she looked up at him and smiled as he kissed her forehead.

When they parted, she noticed the coolness inside the cabin. The temperature had dropped significantly outside and she could feel it getting colder inside as she stood watching the wind blow chunks of wood around the front yard. She hoped the storm wouldn’t last until morning, but she respected the power of the environment they now lived in and was awed by its strength.

Making her way up to the tub, she paused to watch Oliver in the kitchen. His beard was darker, his posture was straighter. He looked lighter on his feet and he had sprinted back to the cabin for almost two miles with her on his back. He had barely broken a sweat and he hadn’t even been short of breath. Any other man would have had a heart attack on the beach and they would have both been killed by the exploding treetop.

Something was happening to them both and she was determined to figure out what and how.

A few minutes later, as the tub filled with hot water, she added a small amount of homemade bubble bath and started the small electric fireplace on the wall beside the window. Watching the trees thrash and move in the wind, she got undressed and turned off the lights. Felicity wanted to watch the storm from the safety of the tub. It was growing more and more violent but she could barely hear it through the windows. Oliver had proven himself to be a careful craftsman, leaving nothing to chance.

“Coffee is served,” he said, coming up the stairs on deceptively soft feet.  
“Meet me in the tub,” she called quietly as she stepped into the lightly scented water. She had found a flower, high up on a bluff, that smelled similar to jasmine, and had made a few small batches of bubble bath and soap to use throughout the year.

“A bubble bath, coffee and a storm,” he smiled.  
“Kinda our thing,” she laughed, the nervousness of waiting for the storm to arrive evaporated the closer he got to the tub.  
“It is,” he agreed, shedding his clothes in layers until he was nude. He stepped into the oversized tub behind her and eased himself into the hot water. “Good lord, this feels good.”  
“You earned it,” she said honestly, “I can’t remember the last time you ran like that.”  
“It’s been a while,” he said dryly.  
“Oliver, the last time I saw you run like that was on Earth, close to thirty years ago,” she replied flatly.

The heat of the water, and the gently rising scent from bubbles, relaxed them. Lightning flashed and thunder roared but the cabin was filled with a sense of calm. Felicity felt protected, not just because of Oliver, but the embrace of the home that he had built. All their other homes had been meant to be long term but ended up as temporary shelters. This was different. It was truly a home for the two of them even if sometimes her heart still felt the pull of their daughter and son.

“What is it?” he asked.

Felicity sighed. He always knew when she was diving deep into her mind. She decided to keep her thoughts private for the moment and instead talk about the physical changes their bodies were going through.

“I need to figure out what is happening to us. We both look twenty years younger, Oliver. I know you know that,” she said quietly.  
“I know. I have been asking in the hamlet but no one will answer me directly,” he commented softly.  
“What would you say if I told you I was going to figure it out?”  
“I would say,” he replied while reaching for the washcloth and soap, “that I think you will.”

Smiling, she settled against his chest and leaned her head back. His faith in her was absolute and was one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. He never doubted her, not even when they were barely speaking or when she doubted herself. And now, it gave her the needed confidence to chase the answer of why they seemed to be aging in reverse.

“I asked the doctor the last time I was there,” she said quietly, “but she was cagey. No one wants to answer us.”  
“Well, then,” he murmured as he slowly began to wash her clean of the exertion of their aborted hike, “we will have to find the answers ourselves.”  
“Mmmhmmm,” she hummed, mesmerized by the way his hands moved over her body.

It was hypnotic the way he was able to command her attention with a simple swirl of a washcloth over her skin. She smiled as she watched his hands pass so gently over her arms, her breasts and torso. It was erotic and intimate. Tender without being overly sexual. His touch was as familiar to her skin as breath to her lungs. They joked often about the intensity of their attraction to each other. For the last few months, she had noticed they made love more often to coincide with how much younger they felt. More often than not, it was spontaneous, intense and long. Oliver’s stamina had increased, much to her erotic delight.

“Oliver?”  
“Hmmm?”  
“What if I can find a way back?” she asked cautiously. She could feel him freeze for a heartbeat before continuing running the cloth over her body.  
“The Monitor was fairly specific in saying this is it,” Oliver said slowly, “We are outside of time here.”

The lightning bounced between clouds high overhead, pulling their attention up and away from their conversation. Felicity watched the steam from the tub, it swirled towards the fireplace, eddying in the wake of warmer air. This was a tiny slice of personal heaven for her, the ability to relax amidst the chaos, resting against Oliver.

“But what if I could figure it out, would you cross through the portal with me?” she asked quietly, breaking the reflective calm.  
“I would follow you anywhere, Felicity,” he said with soft confidence. He lifted her arms up out of the water and gently rinsed them. “Your skin is glowing.”

She watched his fingers trail gently down her arms, He was tracing the shape of the muscles in her forearms down to her hands. Logically, she thought it was a trick of the light, that her skin was just reflecting the firelight but his hands were luminous as well. Every flash of lightning added to the illusion that they were creatures of light.

“Coffee, please,” she requested, mesmerized by the effervescent gleam of electricity on the fading bubbles. Oliver reached for her mug and slowly lowered it in front of her. If she did manage to figure out how to make the device work again, she wondered if she could drag a couple of pounds of it with her through the portal.

The wind had picked up and she could hear the faint sounds of pieces of wood bouncing off the house’s defensive shell. It made her nervous but she trusted that it would hold, keeping them safe. It did make her nervous for the storm season that was to come, the ladies in the hamlet had been honest with her in their stories of the violence they could arrive with.

“I love this tub,” she hummed, taking a sip of coffee, “the water never gets cold.”  
“It is a metal mined from nearby apparently. It is like copper but not exactly copper. Whatever it is, I love it, too,” he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

“Stop it, Mr. Queen,” she chuckled, “we need to have dinner yet.”  
“It’s ready, in the fridge, and so is dessert,” he murmured, planting a soft kiss on her neck.  
“I think dessert is in the tub,” she sighed and felt his chest move against her back as he silently laughed.  
“Nope, not this time, let’s get out and see what’s going on outside,” he suggested.  
“Can I finish this glorious coffee first?” she asked.  
“Of course, but I am starving, so I might head out now,” he replied sadly.  
“I’ll drink fast,” she promised, downing half of the rich beverage in one gulp.

Leaving the tub would be difficult. She had relaxed enough to become sleepy, despite the coffee, and welcomed Oliver’s strong arms around her. Fighting down the urge to pull him into their bedroom, she instead headed for the closet to get dressed. The heat of Oliver’s stare followed her and she felt herself flushing. He still had that ability to make her feel like a teenager.

His gaze was a caress, even now, and she longed to pull him close but they had a storm to reckon with and dinner to eat. Reaching up, she pulled a sweater down from the top shelf and wondered, not for the first time, what kind of animal existed here that could mimic lambs wool so well.

“Do you want to get the fire going?” Oliver called up to her.  
“Yes, please!” she called back, “It’s starting to get cold.”

Slipping on socks and slippers, she made her way back downstairs. Oliver was in the kitchen, pulling things out of the fridge and pantry. She knew they had a lot of food stored in the freezers and cold storage room, but still she worried. They were miles away from any of their neighbors and even further from the store. She still had things to buy and didn’t want to raise any suspicions by buying them all at once.

“How does it look outside?” she asked. She could hear the wind through the chimney as she rebuilt the fire. It whistled and whined, sending chills down her spine. It sounded haunted and forlorn.  
“Come and see,” was all Oliver said.

Curious but filled with trepidation, she went to the windows to look out into the dying light. Somewhere beyond the clouds, the sun was slipping below the horizon, taking its comforting light with it. It felt almost sinister, the shadows looked too long, too dark. She knew she was safe, but couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming that they would need to run from.

“Whoah,” was all she could say as she surveyed the damage in the yard.  
“Yeah,” he agreed.

After the devastation left by the fallen tree top, the storm had blown through like a tornado. Some of the large splinters were gone, literally shredded into chunks that lay scattered over the path from the main cabin all the way down to the one that led to the beach. Bark and leaves were strewn all over every conceivable surface. Nothing was untouched by the wind and rain.

“How are we going to clean this up?” she whispered.  
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “I am kinda hoping the storm takes care of a lot of it.”  
“This place never scared me until now,” she murmured.

Oliver embraced her then, an effort to ward off the gathering darkness, and they watched the wind blow the debris up into the forest beyond the cabin. They were returning home, called by some unheard voice, singing its siren song. One day, she wanted to explore the dark shadows in the forest, to see what she could find.

“Dinner?” he asked softly.  
“Yes, please,” she said with a smile.

Eating dinner together was a ritual. Breakfast and lunch were hit or miss, depending on what the other was doing, but dinner was sacred time. No matter where they decided to eat, it was always together. They took that time to talk, to communicate on a deeper level then the casual conversations they had during the day.

She remembered one night, a few weeks after she arrived, a conversation they had fallen into that had ripped their bruised and healing hearts apart. It had started so innocently, a random question about Mia’s favourite dinner food, and then for a few long days, their world had been upended. She remembered it all so clearly. As Oliver busily prepared their dinner, she stared out the window and faded back into her memories of that night.

_Felicity had told him about the way she and Mia had always had dinner together, no matter what was going on with her training or Felicity’s secret hacking. It was their time to sit and talk about anything that had happened during the day, for Mia to ask her difficult questions, for them to simply bond and share over food. More often than not, Mia did the bulk of the cooking, favouring pastas and salads over everything else._

_Some of her happiest memories were of her and Mia in the kitchen trying to cook and failing miserably. There was never any frustration or tears, only laughter and teasing. Neither of them could really cook all that well but that never stopped them from trying over and over. Oliver had smiled and laughed quietly as she told him a lifetime’s worth of memories. He had seemed genuinely happy to hear them until, with no warning, he wasn’t. She looked up from her meal and saw large, crystalline tears falling down his cheeks._

_She had reached for his hand but he pulled away from her, pushed his chair back as though an invisible force had propelled him away. A wave of agonized pain had washed over her, leaving her frozen in place, unable to follow him as he left the table. She watched him stumble through the living room and fumble his way up the stairs to the second floor._

_The cabin fell silent and dark, only the occasional snap as a log in the fire burst, releasing the scent of sweet pine into the room. After a few minutes, she got up, blew out the candles, turned out the lights and then followed his path up the stairs only to find him sitting at the end of their bed, staring out the window towards the sea. His tears had ceased to fall but his gaze was vacant, his expression haunted and hollow. She had only ever seen him look this empty one time before and that was following the murder of his mother. She felt the push of true sadness in her chest, making it hard for her to breathe._

_“Oliver? Love, please, talk to me,” she encouraged softly._  
_ “What is there to say?” he replied, his voice flat and lifeless, “You raised our daughter into a phenomenal woman. All I did was leave.”_  
_ “You had to go, Oliver, otherwise there would have been no universe for me to raise her in,” she whispered urgently, knowing she had no other choice but to pull him back from the brink herself. “You did it for us, for all of us.”_

_He lowered his head, unable to look at her, but he reached out his hand in search of hers. Without a second thought, she grasped it tight between her own. He bore the scars of the last twenty years so deep, so intricately wound around his heart, that she feared he would never heal. He was drowning in a sea of regret but she couldn’t save him, not this time, she could only stand on the shore and beckon him home._

_“You need to find your way through this, Oliver. I can help. I always will. But this is your journey to make. You have to find your way back to me,” she said quietly._  
_ “I’m just so sorry you had to do it all alone,” he whispered, his voice cracking under the weight of so much unspoken grief._  
_ “I know, love, I know,” she said, her own tears now falling freely down her cheeks, “But she knew you. She knew your heart, you spirit and your love. I made sure of it.”_

_All she could do was wrap him in her arms and hold him while he struggled to find his footing again. They had crawled beneath the warm blankets and held each other throughout the long night. Sleep came in fits and starts. At one point, she woke up to see him sitting on the floor, staring at the picture of his grown children, tears streaming down his face. She called quietly to him and he had gratefully returned to her and the warmth of their shared bed._

_There were many more nights like that until he finally was able to let go of the vicious voice inside his mind that would scream at him in the quiet moments, or when he was willing to let happiness into his heart. She watched him carefully in those early days. Gauging the depth of his sadness by the set of his shoulders, the light in his eyes and the way he spoke. His tells were so plainly evident to her that he would laugh when caught._

_It was during that challenging time that she silently vowed to find a way to give him back all that he had lost. She had reached through the fabric of time and space to find him and succeeded. Through the power of her mind, she had found him. It seemed only right that she could repeat the process and find a way to reunite her family. Even if it took twenty years for her to figure out the mechanics of how._

“Penny for your thoughts?” Oliver’s voice cut through her thoughts and pulled her back to their kitchen table.  
“Just a penny?” she smiled.  
“You were a million miles away,” he continued softly, “Where did you go?”  
“I was just thinking about the first few months after I arrived. All the hard conversations,” she admitted honestly, “We did good.”  
“We did,” he smiled, his eyes full of that gentle love that forever seemed to burst out of him. He placed their dinner on the table, kissed the top of her head and sat down.

“Oliver, when did you make soup?” she asked, incredulous at the bounty in front of her.  
“Remember when you went to town to pick up the new bedding for upstairs?” he asked as he ladled out a steaming helping of savoury smelling chicken noodle soup.  
“You went on a cooking spree?” she asked around a mouthful of delicious broth.  
“I did. I half filled the new freezer with soup, stew, and bread.”  
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” she asked in mock seriousness.  
“It’s been eighty four years…,” he sighed.

Felicity rolled her eyes and shook her head but her laugh spilled out of her. She adored his sense of humour and loved that it had grown in depth as the years had gone by. He was dryly sarcastic, cleverly surreal and goofy. She loved it all. No one could make her laugh quite as hard as he could.

“Well, I guess I have a lot of time to make up for,” she said with a sly wink and laughed as she watched him blush.

Dinner was delicious. They ate enough to make them sleepy and, after cleaning up the dishes, retired to the living room to relax. The wind had picked up again and the thunder rolled over the cabin, shaking the ground beneath them. A blinding volley of lightning lit up the night sky and the rain began to fall. They could hear it beating down on the ground outside, a heavy, staccato rhythm.

“I think maybe we should sleep down here tonight,” she suggested, feeling a little uncertain about sleeping underneath the windows above their bed.  
“We could camp out down here,” he said drowsily, sleep already claiming him.  
“Don’t fall asleep yet,” she chuckled getting up, “help me with the couch.”

With a deep sigh, Oliver got up and together they set the couch up. It was just as comfortable as the bed upstairs and on warm nights, before the summer heat took over and they turned on the central air unit she had built, they would sleep on it with all the windows open to catch the sea breeze. They even kept bedding stored in a closet under the stairs specifically for it, making it easier to make the spontaneous choice to stay on the main level.

“We are going to wake up very, very early,” she commented as she shed her clothes, dropping them in a heap beside the couch. Felicity watched Oliver strip down, the firelight flowing around his muscular frame, and crawl under the covers. She felt her skin tingle but was too tired to take advantage of it and him.  
“The storm will probably wake us up,” he mumbled, his eyes already closed as she joined him.

Felicity took a moment to study his face and smiled as she watched him relax. He looked decades younger, no older than the last day she saw him in their secret home. The lines around his eyes were almost gone, his skin was smoother and brighter. He was still the most beautiful man she had ever seen, no matter his age.

Turning over to face the fireplace, she listened to his breathing even out, sonorous and deep, and listened to the thunder grow closer. Her anxiety around storms was more about how Oliver would react once it was overhead. He still had his moments, when something was alive and screaming in his subconscious, when storms brought Lian Yu, Hong Kong and wherever he landed in time while with the Monitor, back up to the surface through his dreams. Now, in the early, heavy darkness of his sleep, he sought her out, resting his hand on her naked hip.

She fell asleep listening to the soft crackle of the fire, the roar of thunder and the soft warm of Oliver’s hand. At first, she was enveloped by a silence that held all the echoes of the day at bay. It was impenetrable, inky and profound. It clung to her subconscious, smothering all of the accumulated trauma from their past and the horror of their dash to safety. It was a welcoming embrace that she gave herself over to, grateful and exhausted.

It didn’t prepare her for what was to come that night. Not for the violence of the storm outside or the demons unleashed through their shared nightmares. They had been holding onto secrets and at the height of thunder, wind, and rain, they revealed themselves. It was foolhardy for them to think they could hold onto those coveted, hidden mysteries when all they had was each other.


	2. "Here I am. Send me."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is from Oliver's POV and is the table setting needed for the rest of the story. This one is moving a little slower on purpose. It is a combination of exploring them as older adults and clearing the way for the ultimate direction I am going in.
> 
> There is a reappearance of an character I have utilized from the DC Universe, the Sandman from the Endless (the characters created and written about by Neil Gaiman) and a re-connection to the current show universe. Sleep is a huge thing in this particular part of the story, it is an escape, a refuge and a place where truths are shown. For Oliver, it is where he works through his grief and confusion and he has a bit to process.
> 
> This part of the story finds them playful, adjusted, inquisitive, loving and full of the complicated emotions we have grown to love in them both since season 1.

**Chapter 2**   
** Here I am. Send me.**

_He wandered alone_   
_Trying to find some peace_   
_But all he needed was her._

Oliver’s last waking thought was of how warm Felicity’s skin felt under his hand. He loved the soft power of her body, of how just knowing she was next to him could give him the courage to face whatever was surging awake in his mind. His time away from her had healed some old wounds but the new ones inflicted on his psyche had yet to even begin the healing process of scabbing over.

The thunder and lightning still triggered a deep seated anxiety that was beyond his control. It manifested in his nightmares, whirlwinds of guilt and regret, that would rip him from sleep. Over time, he had mastered the ability to wake up without a violent jerk or reaction but Felicity always knew and was ready to help ease the racing of his panicked heart.

_A memory roared into life but he was trapped in it, cornered by its violence and corrosive energy. He was in the midst of the first mission the Monitor had sent him on, having to face Merlin, his family and Tommy. Having to suit up to fight, knowing Felicity was alone with Mia, pushed him into a delicate place where rage coloured his actions but needing to remain alive pulled him back enough to not get lost completely in the fury of how his life had upended itself._

_He knew he was dreaming but was locked in place, helpless, and forced to allow the scene to play itself out. He remembered the anger, the frustration, the desire to get it done so he could leave. The one bright shining light in all of it was being able to sit and talk with him mother. Despite all the pain of her lying about William, and taking that secret to her grave, he loved her. Seeking her approval was always going to be something he did and here, on a different earth, it was no different._

_The only difference was that this time he was equipped with the years of wisdom and selfless love rewarded to him by Felicity. They had become tools he utilized in his conversations with his family. He thought about her and what she would say to him in those low points, when the world would be crashing down around his ears, and let her guidance and counsel flow through him. It hadn’t been his earth, but that didn’t matter, he had been able to make peace with his family because of the relationship he had forged with Felicity._

_Even in a different universe, she was with him. As he fought for his life versus Tommy and the Legion of Assassins, he thought of her, the way she smiled and laughed, the easy way she loved him. The fuel to survive and succeed in his mission was knowing that at the end of his journey, she would be there to find him._

_Before he left the past for the last time, he had been able to_ _talk to his mom about what he wanted for his future. Carefully, he described his life with Felicity and the family they would create. He talked about unconditional love, mutual respect, trust and the willingness to grow. She hugged him then, telling him how proud she was of him, at how much he had grown and hoped he could find the woman he was describing. He smiled despite knowing he had leave that earth, this was the mother he had wanted as a young man, not the secretive, complicated one he had grown up with. Wishing her good night, waited for her to walk up the stairs towards her room and then left his childhood home for good._

_The battle that followed had tested him but he knew there was no room for failure and so, had fought tooth and nail until the end. He treated it as a war and there were always casualties in a war. The past he fought through was left soaked in blood but it didn’t matter. His goal was to succeed and in the end, he did._

_“Do you think she will forgive you?” a voice asked. It was familiar, deep but with a strange lilt that pulled it out of time and space._   
_ “For the deaths?” he asked, not wanting to admit to the guilt that was eating away at his soul._   
_ “For those and for the time spent in places while she was nearby. While she was alone with your daughter,” the voice was growing closer, surrounding him as he stood on the edge of a familiar cliff. “Why are we here?”_

_The scene around him slowly changed, piece by piece, the violence fading away to reveal Felicity holding Mia in her arms, softly singing her to sleep. It was something he would have seen had he been allowed to live out his life, to find his purpose for himself. Felicity had told him that, when that time came, she would gladly support him in whatever it was he felt called to do._

_He watched her put their sleeping daughter in her crib and quietly slip out of the room. She wandered aimlessly throughout the now too large home, until she looked like she was pacing in a cage. Her phone blinked on the kitchen counter and he spotted the date. It was only a month after the Monitor had whisked him off to save the universe but he wasn’t traveling through time and space, he was in Star City looking for information and working with Diggle._

_He had sworn his friend to secrecy. No one knew he had been there or what he had come back to look for, not even now. He owed it to Felicity, to tell her that he had been back and forth in time. That he had spotted her once and met their daughter as a young woman on her own. That he had almost given up his mission to stay with them for just a few days._

_But he hadn’t. He had gone back with the Monitor and continued with the mission of saving the universe for the benefit of his family. Felicity, Mia and William were all that mattered to him, all he thought about during the long, lonely nights on the ship or planet disguised as the earth he remembered as home._

_“What do you think she will do when you tell her?” the voice was slowly growing stronger, more distinct. Oliver saw a shimmering in the air and thought he could see the glimmering surface of black velvet._   
_ “How are you here?” he asked, realization of who he was speaking to had taken shape. He was an old friend who made the Monitor nervous._   
_ “I’ve known many universes. They come and go, sometimes in a blink of an eye,” Dream said, “but this place is special. Different. It has always existed, even when there was nothing else.”_   
_ “But we all sleep, so I know how you got here,” Oliver chuckled softly. He watched Felicity crawl into their bed, pull his pillow close and finally close her eyes. Morpheus, or Dream, had forged a special connection with him over the last twenty five years, not a friendship exactly, but a mutual respect born out of the timelessness of the relationship he and Felicity had discovered._

_He ached to join her in this memory, to erase the last twenty five years and just live in the peace and quiet of their private home. He used to daydream about playing with Mia, about a son named Lucas, about William. About being a father to his children, a husband to his wife. That life was what he dreamed of ever since he was a little boy. It was one he never thought he could attain and had been prepared to throw it all away even before he got on the Gambit with his father and Sara, his stowaway prize._

_“She is going to be angry with me for a while,” he said knowingly, “She might even sleep out in the beach house. Or make me go out there.”_   
_ “She might,” the Endless being beside him chuckled dryly, “She will be incredibly angry but not for long.”_   
_ “She will be. She has every right to be. There was no greater sacrifice than the one she made for me, for the universe. And...and I could have reached out, to let her know I was alive but I thought it a greater kindness to let her continue thinking I was gone,” he said, full of self loathing and a growing anger at himself for what he perceived as a criminal weakness._   
_ “What you perceive as sins of character are lies you tell yourself, Oliver, she doesn’t see you the same way,” he said. Oliver watched him wave his hand, stars and galaxies falling from his sleeve, and felt his consciousness be whisked away._

_Blinking away the dizziness that often accompanied shifts in location with Morpheus, Oliver looked around and saw the cabin he had transformed in the hopes Felicity would appear. When she had, he felt as though his world was finally complete. That they now had time to simply be married to one another, to settle into the rest of their lives in this familiar place, filled him with hope and purpose._

_“You promised her, Oliver, no more secrets,” Morpheus said quietly._   
_ “I know. I just don’t want to disappoint her again,” he replied in a hushed tone. “Is it time for me to go back?”_   
_ “It is. Be kind to her,” Morpheus said firmly, “She loved you enough to reach through time and space to find you. She is about to do the same so that you can be reunited with Mia and William.”_   
_ “Do you think she can do it?”_   
_ “Yes, I do.”_

_Oliver felt a cool finger on the back of his neck and everything went dark._

He opened his eyes and watched lightning flash, sending shadows racing across the ceiling and down the walls. The fire had died down, lending a chill to the air, and the wind screamed through the trees. The rain was falling in sheets, pummeling the earth all around them. With a careful turn of his head, he looked at Felicity and found that she was sound asleep.

She was right. They were getting younger. Looking at her now, she looked no different than the day he married her in that park so many years ago. Even her hair was different, fuller and more true to the blonde she was and not the pale grey she had been turning. Still, her scars remained and that was almost a relief. That the story of who she had become was still etched on her skin made him secretly happy. Reading her scars, the stretch marks on her abdomen from her pregnancy, and the way her muscles had built up over time with his finger tips was a privilege.

Suddenly, he was gripped by the need to see the faces of his son and daughter. Slowly, with as much care as he could muster, Oliver slid out of the makeshift bed and into his pants and socks. He considered adding another log to the fire but opted to turn on the heating, drawing off of the solar grid Felicity had created from scratch.

He felt a surge of true respect and love in his chest. He had built the framework, the house itself, and she had finished it, creating and improving as she went. Pausing at the top of the stairs, he looked down at the main floor, the way the fireplace rose up through the centre of the space, organic and roughly hewn. He had tried to keep it rounded on all sides, not a sphere but smooth. Aerodynamics of wind demanded an angle or two for it to flow over and past, to spread itself out so it wouldn’t tear the roof off.

They had filled it with books bought at the local farmer’s market, with trinkets and art. Felicity had managed for a while in the spartan surroundings he had called home until one day he came back from a trip over the mountain to pick up a new freezer, and discovered colour and light on every wall. He loved it and her for staking her claim to the cabin and making it their home.

The upper level was cold, not just chilly, but actually cold. Making his way around to the different spaces, he turned on the solar powered fireplaces on a timer and set about making their bed warmer for the rest of the night. The main floor was getting cold and it would be easier to sleep the rest of the night up here regardless of the storm.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Oliver picked up his book and slipped the small picture of Mia and William out and studies their faces. He often tried to imagine them in the years between the last time he saw them and the moment the picture was taken. Felicity had tried to describe the different ways that Mia’s face had changed, how she was small like her mom but strong like him. The perfect balance of them both.

“Oliver?” Felicity called out quietly, her voice groggy and soft.  
“I’m here,” he called back gently, making his way back down to her.  
“Is everything ok?” she was sitting up, wrapped in the duvet.  
“Yes,” he smiled, sitting opposite her, “it is cold down here so I went up to turn on the electric fireplace and heaters.”  
“You aren’t going to build up the fire?” she was still half asleep but he could see her mind firing up and smiled at her innate curiosity.  
“I need to clean it first, so I’m going to let it burn down overnight. I need it cold,” he said as he reached for her.  
“What?” she asked, genuinely confused but welcoming of his embrace.  
“Nothing,” he reassured her, “but let’s go up to bed now. It’s warmer and the storm is turning.”  
“Ok, so long as it’s safe,” she said, trusting him without question.

He looked down at her and tenderly kissed the top of her head. She made living in this world so easy just by being in it. Standing up, he pulled her to her feet, waited for her to slip on her sweater, and then guided her through the darkened cabin to the second level. The lightning had stopped and plunged them into complete darkness making the cabin treacherous in the dim light generated by the dying fire.

“What else were you up to?” she asked at the top of the stairs.

There was no point in pretending, she had seen the book on the bed and knew its significance.

“I woke up from a dream and needed to see them,” he admitted, “I needed to see if I could roll back time just a bit and see them as children.”  
“Oliver,” she turned to face him, concern in her eyes, “I am so sorry I couldn’t bring more.”  
“No,” he said sharply with a wave of his hand, “never apologize for anything. You know that. You found me. You did exactly what you said you would do and I can never thank you enough.”

She studied him for a moment and then reached out her hand, which he gladly took in his own, and allowed her to pull him towards the bed. When she first arrived, she had commented on how perfect it was for both their heights. She stepped up into it while he was able to kneel without difficulty. He had built it with their age in mind as well but that no longer mattered.

The rain continued to fall, heavy and in gusty sheets, but the thunder had moved inland along with the lightning. He watched her take her sweater off and resisted the urge to run his hands down her body. Her skin was luminous in the light from the electric fireplace and he knew the electricity in the air would crackle when their skin made contact.

With a sigh, he joined her in the cool sheets, even knowing they had hours and hours to go before morning. She nestled into his side and rested her head on his chest, the one place she felt most at ease. A small smile spread across his lips and he closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of her breath on his skin. If this planet was truly a created paradise for men and women like him and Felicity, then he had found his own private bubble of pure joy.

“Oliver?” she asked softly.  
“Hmmm?”  
“Do you ever wonder what would happen if we ran into anyone we know?”  
“I have and I would probably walk away,” he said honestly.  
“Really?” she asked, surprised by his reticence. She propped herself up so she could read his expression. “You would hide from them? Even if it was someone we were close to?”  
“Only Thea or John would be people I’d greet. No one else,” he said.  
“All these years later and you still haven’t forgiven the rest of them,” she chuckled.  
“Nope, not one bit,” he said smartly and laughed when she poked him in the ribs.

He hadn’t and neither had she. So much could have been different had they been competent and trustworthy. Dinah was too fixated on being right and Rene, well, there wasn’t much to say about him. They had been teammates and nothing more. He had been glad that in the end they didn’t know about Mia until she was the warrior she was as an adult as it probably had saved her life.

“Felicity?” he asked softly.  
“Hmmm?”  
“I’m glad you still have your stretch marks.”  
“What?” she asked with a loud laugh.  
“I am,” he laughed, “they are sexy.”  
“You are a strange, strange man, Oliver Queen,” she chuckled.  
“Ok, if you really want the truth, I think YOU are sexy.”  
“Isn’t it a bit late to be this playful?” she asked.  
“Given how young you look these days…”  
“Are you saying I looked old before?”  
“Uh…,” for a second he wasn’t sure if she was serious and he was in trouble until he felt the way her body was shaking in silent laughter.

He looked down at Felicity and saw she was staring at him, her eyes twinkling and bright, and shook his head. Before he could say a word, she swung her leg over his hips and pushed herself up, straddling him with ease.

“For some reason, I don’t think either of us is all that tired,” she mused, leaning down to kiss his neck, “and that doesn’t really surprise me considering we went to bed so early.”  
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice low and husky, “I’m not the youngest of men.”  
“Hmmm maybe but you’ll have to do,” she shrugged and then shrieked with laughter when he flipped her on her back. He paused for a moment to look at her and smiled before kissing her with growing passion.

He loved this rambunctious version of sex with her. She was greedy, demanding, inventive and relentless. The storm forgotten, he followed her lead and the heat of her body. He was at her mercy when she was like this and soon found himself back on his back, staring up at her as lightning flashed wild and bright above her head. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, no fight or war he wouldn’t endeavour to win. He often thought about how they loved each other so much, that she was willing to cross into a different dimension for him and he was willing to give his life for hers without asking.

One night, as they sat watching the stars, she had started to tell him about the way Mia asked about religion and God. She had been six years old and had found her Torah. It had been a careful conversation about beliefs and ways of celebrating a power greater than humanity. Mia had been inquisitive, so Felicity had made it a habit of telling her about various forms of worship, the endless deities and religions through time.

When she was old enough, Mia had read to her her favourite quote, “Here I am, send me," from Isaiah 6:8. She said it reminded her of her dad, a man she knew only through her mother’s eyes and memories, and the sacrifice he had made so that she and Felicity could live. She had told him how she had sent their daughter off to bed after that and had sat outside, under the stars she hoped he could see, and cried until the ache in her heart had eased enough for her to rest.

The gratitude he felt at her being able to tell him that small but important story had left him feeling humbled. Awed. There was no stronger person in the universe than Felicity. No one, in his opinion, could match the ferocity of her spirit even in moments of deepest, darkest grief.

He reached up to trace the silver Star of David that hung around her neck and wondered if, given a second chance, they might get married again under a chuppah and with the blessing of a Rabbi. He wanted to respect her history, her ancestry, before all this was done. But every last thought fled his mind as she rocked her hips with growing intensity against his. Holding onto her, his chest heaved as he gasped for breath, he watched her arch her back and felt the sizzling rush of her orgasm in waves over his cock.

“I love you, Oliver,” she gasped.

He pulled her down, holding her tight against his chest, and kissed her as he thrust hard into her body, causing her to gasp and cry out as she climaxed again, a deep, rolling sensation that cracked his mind and heart in half. It was like she was drawing him into her body, merging their bodies at the quantum level. She pushed herself up, pulling him into a seated position and took their bodies to their limit.

“I...I can’t hold on…,” he gasped, lightning racing through his veins. Felicity used her powerful thighs to squeeze tight around him until all he could see were bursts of light behind his eyes. Her tongue slipped past his lips and she kissed him with fervor, lightly biting his lower lip, holding him so close, he could feel every soft curve of her body.

With a deep, guttural moan, he felt his resolve vanish and he poured himself inside her, an orgasmic, rumbling explosion. It sometimes felt possessive, greedy, to claim her body from the inside this way. They were lucky to be past the need to worry about accidental pregnancies but he still felt as though he were taking ownership of her body in an intimate and personal way.

He wrapped her in his arms and simply held on for dear life. For someone so small, she anchored him, body and soul, to whatever world they were in. He knew they had a difficult conversation ahead but for this moment, this one, tender moment, nothing else mattered other than the embrace they were in.

“Love really is too small a word,” she murmured.  
“It really is,” he agreed, kissing the old bullet wound on her shoulder.  
“I am so glad we aren’t too old for this,” she said with a sigh.  
“I don’t ever want to imagine a day when that happens,” he said with a chuckle.  
“Would you even want to live?” she laughed and then slowly grew limp in his arms as sleep whisked her away.

Oliver gently turned their bodies and laid her back on the bed, their bodies slowly letting go of their connection. His cock felt the cold in the loft air and he missed the blistering heat of her body. Pulling the duvet up over them, he tucked them in for the night and waited for the shadow of sleep to fall over him once again.

The rain was pelting the roof, it sounded thicker, heavier, and he wondered if snow was coming sooner than they were truly prepared for. He began making a list in his mind of all the things they would need to do to prepare for the true winter season that the planet was heading into. Felicity was right in saying they needed to get more provisions but for the time being they should be ok.

He drifted off to sleep wondering if he would need to chop more wood or if the storm had provided in the form of an exploded tree top.

“...Oliver...move...please?” Felicity’s voice pushed into his subconscious. He wasn’t sure if she was real or not, so he let sleep reclaim him.

“...Oliver...I need...now?” she said and followed it with a hard poke to his ribs.  
“Hey, what was that for?” he mumbled, refusing to open his eyes or move.  
“You are lying on my hair,” she grumbled goodnaturedly.

Oliver chuckled and turned over. Felicity took the opportunity to cuddle into him. He felt her arm snake over his hip, her hand coming to rest just above his belly button. The added warmth of her body, the gentle rise and fall of her chest against his back, were enough to keep him nestled under the blankets. He could tell that the sun was up but hidden behind voluminous clouds. A late morning under a stormy sky was an indulgence that they enjoyed whenever they could.

“You awake?” she asked softly, her breath warm on his skin.  
“I am but trying to not be,” he answered.  
“I’m hungry,” she said, “I think we should get up.”  
“You can reach the cereal,” he murmured, “and the milk. I left them on a lower shelf this time.”

Pretending to be shocked, she casually and playfully pressed her lips to his back and then blew a loud and wet raspberry on the sensitive skin on his side. He laughed and moved away from her, leaving the warm bed. It was time for the day to begin and the clean up from the storm was number one on the list. He wondered how bad the damage was and how the outbuildings had held up under the force of the wind.

Oliver took a deep breath and went to the window that faced the ocean. At first he was puzzled. What he was seeing made no sense to him based on the ferocity of the storm that had swept through overnight. He should have seen complete devastation from the tree top that plummeted to earth like a missile. There should be shards of wood taller than the cabin scattered across the entire front yard but wasn’t the site that greeted his eyes.

The sun was trying to power through the clouds but could barely reach the tops of the trees behind the cabin. But there was nothing, the yard looked swept clean. Not a shard, not a splinter in sight, it was like the explosion never happened. He reached up and opened the window and was greeted by a burst of pine scented cold air. The temperature had definitely dropped but it was clean, refreshing, and alive.

Far out to sea, he could see a line of dark clouds forming but they were hours away. It was like they were in the eye of the storm, one they would need to weather together no matter what. Lost in thought, he was startled by Felicity’s arms snaking their way around his waist, the press of her warm body against his. He smiled when he felt the press of her lips against the centre of his back.

“You are standing, very naked, in front of a very large window,” she teased in a quiet voice.  
“So are you,” he chuckled softly, “I love that no one is here to see us.”  
“Unlike the loft in Star City,” she laughed, her voice still rough and deep from a long night asleep, “I wonder how many people got an eyeful of the two of us.”  
“I was going to check on PornHub but thought better,” he laughed when she poked his side. He held her hands under his and sighed, content and happy in this strange place.  
“Breakfast?” she asked, using her chin to poke him.  
“Yes, m’lady. Go shower and I’ll get coffee going.”  
“Love you,” she sighed.  
“You better,” he grumbled goodnaturedly.

With a quiet laugh, Felicity pushed herself off of his body, taking her warmth with her. He would need to clean out the fireplace and get it going before the next storm arrived on their doorstep. Closing the window, he got dressed and headed down to the kitchen to start breakfast and figure out the rest of the day.

His thoughts drifted back to his dream, the intense longing to see his children and the distance that lay between them. Oliver stood staring out at a surprisingly clean front yard, lost in thought, he watched the morning mist fade back into the forest, strangely resembling bony fingers bending as though to beckoning him to follow.  
“What is it?” she asked quietly. She had rejoined him on silent feet, something she had picked up from him. Her voice was carefully controlled to keep the worry from it but he could hear it underlining each word.  
“Just watching the mist,” he said with the same kind of control.  
“It looks like the wind took care of the debris,” she slipped an arm around his waist as they stood and looked out over the yard.  
“I gotta say, the improvements you made to the security system are outstanding.”  
“Why thank you, Mr. Queen,” she chuckled.

Oliver pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the top of her head. He remembered the day she had shown him how she had made adjustments to the sensors, the power of the protective shell that would wrap around their home at the smallest hint of danger and the pride that had flowed out of her as she explained every tiny detail. This new home planet of theirs had only just begun to show its true colours but he had suspected then, as he did now, that all of her tweeks had more to do with the fear of who was out there, not what.

“Let’s go look around, see what we need to do,” she said softly.  
“After breakfast,” he stated quietly.  
“Well, yeah, I’m not a monster,” she laughed.

They ate quickly and then went out to inspect the aftermath of the storm. To their surprise, there was hardly any. Some of the larger shards remained where they had landed, stuck deep into the earth, and revealed a wood so lustrous it shone in the dim morning light. He wondered if maybe he could use it to build with.

With a small smile, he watched Felicity run her hands over the fire smoothed wood. It wasn’t charred, it was glossy, with a satin sheen, not at all what you would suspect it to look like after it was essentially blown up in the sky. She was fascinated by the texture under her hands, momentarily forgetting he was behind her.

“This is amazing,” she breathed.  
“What should I make with it?” he asked quietly, not wanting to break the spell of the moment.  
“A table. Maybe one for the deck?”  
“I could do that,” he nodded, seeing the shape of it beginning to show itself in the lines and grain of the wood. He felt a surge of creativity and let his mind chase the idea until he found it.  
“You can see the design of it already, can’t you?” she asked, a smile playing on her lips.  
“I can,” he smiled but saying nothing more.

Reaching her hand out for his, she laced her fingers through his and pulled him after her, beginning their exploration of the land untied. No one had ever, or would ever, love him like she did. When she was with him, he felt like he could conquer every evil or malevolent force in the universe. At present, she was focused on the path directly under their feet and he was glad to simply follow her lead.

They walked in silence, concentrating on the path in front of them, careful not to make a misstep on the went leaves and muddy ground. The storm had shredded the low lying vegetation for about two hundred yards past the treeline. They could see deep into the forest, seeing tall ferns that dwarfed them and a flowering bush they had never seen before. Embedded in the forest floor were more polished shards from the tree the storm had blown apart. Oliver wondered if maybe they were seeds or the remnant of a giant pine cone. They would have to watch over the next few months to see if any of them changed.

“Everything looks so...different,” Felicity said quietly, “Like the storm stripped away the facade of the forest.”  
“What do you think we’ll find?” he asked, smiling as he watched her stare up, trying to find the sky.  
“Let’s find out,” she said softly before pulling on his hand and stepping off the path to enter the forest.

They explored newly exposed areas for the rest of the morning, finding small groves previously unseen and a stream flowing with clean water from the glacier fall to the north of them. It was primordial in appearance. Everything larger than it should be, or they were used to on their earth, the smell was pungent but clean and the sound of the younger trees swaying in the wind was hypnotic.

He felt he could stay out in this strange place forever until the shadows of memories of his son and daughter, all unlived and unrealised, pushed into his heart and mind. He felt so absurdly grateful to have had a year with William and Felicity but Mia...the loss of that relationship was one he would always feel grief and regret over. Not even meeting her for that fleeting moment during his last mission could make a dent in it.

Sometimes, during the quiet, sleepy hour before bed, he would let his thoughts drift and inevitably, Felicity would find him lost to what could have been. Five years later and the wound was still so wide and raw, he would wake up from deep sleep, gripped in an emotional pain so great, he would be gasping for breath.

Pausing, he thought of Mia’s final words to him before the end and the wound they had left behind. Felicity knew he was holding back on something but had decided to leave it with him for now. They had twenty years to unpack and sort through. But all they really wanted was to reclaim the peace of the life unlived together first. Five years in and they were still enjoying their honeymoon.

“We should head back,” Felicity said softly, “before we lose the light.”  
“There is just...so much to see,” he said, in awe of the landscape.  
“We have time to explore and I am starving,” she said sheepishly.

Oliver laughed and reached for her hand. Time and age had made no impact on her appetite and he would gladly cook for her until he couldn’t. On the walk back to their home, his thoughts drifted to the table he wanted to create for her and the mystery of its creation. It was a deep walnut colour with burrells of a slightly lighter shade, creating an illusion of moving spirals all the way around.

It was like seeing something out of the corner of his eye. A vague image, a subtle movement, something he was used to out in the forest. Felicity had commented on it more than once, that she was sure she had seen something but couldn’t identify exactly what. The burrells were in the shape of that blur. It was unsettling the more he thought about it but the wood was too beautiful to use as firewood.

“Let’s have lunch in the summer house,” Felicity said as they neared their home.  
“Summer house? Felicity, it is maybe one hundred yards from our front door. It has 2 rooms. One of which is a bathroom,” he laughed.  
“Well, it is a separate house that we only used in summer time until you put in the gas fireplace,” she said, determined to defend herself.  
“But it is barely even a room!” he laughed harder than before.  
“Oliver, I am going to go to the room you will be sleeping alone in tonight and will wait for you to bring down lunch,” she said in mock frustration and made her way, arms crossed over her chest, to the small cabin she referred to as their ‘summer house’.

He would make it up to her with lunch and a nap on that beautiful bed she had created in the intimate space of the small cabin he had built on a whim. They could watch the waves and track the storm that was still coming in. His knees were aching from the damp cold so a few hours with the dry heat of the gas fireplace and some good food were just what he wanted.

But before he could settle in for a warm, cuddly afternoon with Felicity, he needed to seduce her with his food. It was a picnic lunch but one full of homemade jams, fresh cheese, good bread, local fruits and berries and a wine he was sure was made from elderberries and roses. On a whim, he plucked the lone flower in the flower pot by the door, the only one left alive after last night’s storm, and laid it across the top of the basket. It was a delicate pink one that reminded him of a dahlia. It was the only kind he could get to grow out here by the salt water spray from the not too distant shore.

By the time he got back to the small cabin, Felicity had had time to start the fire and create an atmosphere of soft white light, from strings of fairy lights hung around the room and candles on the window sill. The sun was sinking behind a dense wall of clouds and they were losing the light rapidly.

‘I guess we’ll have to close up our summer house now that winter is coming,” he said sadly.  
“Won’t that be awkward with you living out here?” she asked with saccharine sweetness.  
“Oh Felicity,” he said with a shake of his head, “We’ve had a good run.”

She laughed as she took the basket of food and wine from him. With a shy smile, she lifted the flower to her nose and breathed deep its delicate perfume. The wind was picking up, pushing the waves hard against the shore to the south of them. Oliver was quietly thankful for the peaceful afternoon spent in their tiny summer home, safely cocooned in warmth and light, where they could watch the day fade slowly into night.

His last waking thought that afternoon, after they had crawled into the enormous bed in the tiny cabin, was that maybe he wouldn’t have to tell Felicity about his time on earth after he had left with the Monitor. That maybe, by some invisible grace, he could spare her that pain and simply live with the guilt. But he knew Felicity and her gritty determination to dig out his truths, she would leave him alone with it for only so long before extracting them. It was never without pain but in the end, it was always worth it.

There was still an entire night left but sleep claimed them after the long morning exploring new ground and a weighty lunch. Felicity was breathing deeply, already asleep. Pulling the heavy knit blanket over them, Oliver wrapped his arm around her waist, got himself comfortable, and followed her past the veil and into a deep, dreamless sleep.


End file.
